REISSUE: Family taunted by haunting threat left in postbox

“I let her go in 2009 as she was too young. I am now taking her again and she will be mine for good!!!”

This was the chilling note that the Khumalo* family found in their yard‚ near a hole in their fence‚ used as a post box‚ at their Atteridgeville home on Sunday. Now the family fears that their daughter is coveted by someone in the neighbourhood – someone who has been biding his time since an initial attempt to abscond with her failed.

Police‚ however‚ say they are yet to make any arrests.

“A case has been opened and our investigations are under way. We will interview the victim but at the moment‚ she is still in hospital‚” said Captain Thomas Mufamadi.

He said the note would form part of their investigation. He was unable to immediately ascertain the status of the police investigation into the alleged 2009 abduction.

Recalling the trauma they went through when their daughter‚ now 21-year-old‚ was allegedly abducted eight years ago‚ the family said they knew not to take the threat lightly.

Mbali’s father‚ Sipho‚ described their shock when she went missing on Sunday at around 3.30pm.

“Mbali had left the house earlier. She said she was going to buy airtime but when she did not come back 30 minutes later‚ her mother decided to walk out to go and look for her. Her mom found the note outside and came in to show it to us‚” he said.

The family went into panic mode‚ opening an abduction case‚ posting pictures of the note and their youngest child’s pictures on Facebook while others walked the streets of Atteridgeville‚ searching for her.

Later that evening‚ they received a call from Mbali’s phone‚ which for the entire afternoon had rung unanswered.

Initially‚ all they could hear was heavy panting on the other end. When they called back again‚ her phone was answered by a shop worker at KFC in Sunnyside. Mbali was alive but she was hurt and had been drugged‚ the shop worker told them.

The family rushed to the shop where they found her to be drowsy‚ with cuts seemingly made with a razor on her arms‚ her neck‚ forehead and jaw.

“We took her to hospital and she is still admitted there‚” said Sipho.

Her father said they had since learnt that she was grabbed a few metres away from her home by three balaclava-clad men travelling in a Toyota Quantum. They covered her mouth and nose with a cloth and she passed out.

The family lives close to a church and despite it being a busy afternoon‚ with several cars parked outside the church‚ no one had seen a thing. The owner of the shop where Mbali had headed to buy airtime said she had never been there that day.

“[Mbali] said when she woke up she was in a building in Sunnyside. She heard people talking and they were sharpening something and talking about cutting off her left hand‚” Sipho said.

The people were communicating in ‘SePetori’ or Pretoria slang.

Mbali told her father that she saw her phone had been placed close by to where she had been put down. She grabbed it and made a run for it‚ following the glimmer of light she could see from outside the building.

“She said she ran but did not know where she was going. She recognized the KFC sign and went in there. She can’t remember the building she had come from‚” Sipho said.

Just like this week's incident‚ Sipho said his daughter’s 2009 kidnapping was something they still failed to understand.

She was just 13 when she walked to a hawker's stand to buy snacks after school. All of a sudden‚ she said‚ she was grabbed by people in a Toyota Condor.

“She was blind-folded and injected with something which was in a syringe and then they dumped her in Church Street [in the Pretoria CBD]‚” her father recounted.

“Some boys had found her in the early hours of the morning when they were returning from a night out but she was still drowsy. They gave her a place to sleep and then gave her money to go home when she was fully awake‚” said Sipho.

No arrests were ever made.

“The case was closed because the police said she could not identify the suspects‚” Sipho said.

He could not understand why two attempts would be made to abduct his daughter.

“I have no idea why this is happening. I am an ordinary man and grandfather. I don’t own a business. My wife is not working and I am supporting my wife‚ children and grandchildren‚” he said.

He suspects that the perpetrator is someone who lives close to their home‚ or who used to be a neighbour.

“Someone must know something‚ someone from nearby‚” he said.

The family is now living in fear.

“It’s bad. We are thinking of relocating‚” Sipho said.

Mbali has never been the same since the first abduction.

Her father says she became sickly‚ going in and out of hospital several times each year.

“She has even been to a psychiatric hospital‚” Sipho said.

The young woman did not complete her matric because she fell ill and was hospitalised just before exams were scheduled to start.

She took a year off last year and was meant to start attending a local college where she was to do her N-courses in electrical engineering.

“We don’t know what to do now‚” said a despondent Sipho.

*The names have been changed to protect the victim and her family.

Source: TimesLIVE